Those of us who are of a certain age will remember the sit com, Barney Miller. It's about the 12th Precinct detectives. I was watching it late last night and the 1975 episode, Vigilante came on. It features an arrest of a cross-dressing teamster, for an "unclassified misdemeanor." We're all used to seeing cross-dressers in comedy being the brunt of the gag. In this case the cross-dresser was treated with respect and the comedy lines were all about the "unclassified misdemeanor" and the others reaction to him. There were several attempts to explain just why the cross-dresser was arrested and each one was calmly refuted by the cross-dresser. In the end the cross-dresser is allowed to go after making bail.

All in all, given that it was 1975 episode, I was impressed with the dignity shown to the cross-dresser. the detectives were surprised when they found out he was a teamster and impressed that he had been in the Marines and had seen action. You can see the episode here... Vigilante on dailymotion.com.